Thursday, July 31, 2008

Hidden van Gogh revealed by synchrotron radiation

Check out the painting (left, click to enlarge). Obviously a Vincent van Gogh. Called "Grasgrond" ("Patch of Grass"), it was painted by van Gogh in Paris in 1887, and is owned by the Kröller-Müller Museum in the Netherlands.

Not so obvious, however, is the painting beneath it. Previous research had already revealed a vague outline of a head lurking behind the grass, but thanks to a new technique we can see the painting of a woman's head behind clearly (see picture below).

So how did materials expert and art historian Joris Dik and chemist Koen Janssens and their teams do it? Their technique is based on synchrotron-radiation-induced X-ray fluorescence spectroscopy.

The painting was scanned with a very small but intense X-ray beam from a synchrotron radiation source for two days, and the fluorescence of the layers of paint calculated, even those well below the visible surface.

Using the measurements of all the atoms and individual paint pigments in the painting, the researchers were able to reconstruct the concealed painting in unprecedented detail.

There is nothing mysrerious here. I am an artist and often paint over paintings for a variety of reasons. One must remember that Vincent Van Gogh famously only ever sold one painting in his life time. His brother supported him in his art and he was often without money. It is cost effective to paint over old or redundant artwork. No drama, a common practice for many artists past and present. I am sure if one was dedicated enough with this type of 'xray' they would discover many similar findings with alot of the masters.